50 History of the Blackflame Family

Luffy, Ezio and the old fox were eating together. At this moment the old fox looked at Ezio and his face turned serious.

Ezio only saw this face once in his life. It was at the time when the old man gave him his devil fruit.

„Ezio, I have to tell you something about the history of our family. It's time that you know about it"

The old fox stood up and looked at the sky.

„The World Government was established 800 years ago. That was the time when the ancestor of our family left his kingdom and became a Celestial Dragon on the Red Line. This ancestor was the one who ate the same devil fruit you ate. He was the one who named us Blackflame, and he was the one who brought our family to the top of this world"

Ezio frowned. It was the first time the old man told him about the history.

„Our ancestor had two sons. One of the sons should lead the family and live in the Holy Land, the other son became the King of our previous kingdom. This kingdom is a secluded land in the New World and the world doesn't know about it. It is the home of the Blackflame family and there all our secrets are hidden. The strongest of the two sons was the leader of the family who lived in Mary Geoise, and the weaker one became the King of our homeland"

„So we are descendants of the son who was stronger?", asked Ezio.

„No, we are the children of the other one. Our ancestor lost to his big brother and became the king of our homeland"

Now Ezio was confused.

„There is a rule in our family. Each descendent of the new generation would fight each other, and the strongest one would be the leader of our family. The loser would become the king of our kingdom, the winner would lead the family and reside in the Holy Land. This fight continued for 800 years with each new generation"

„But… You told me that I was the heir of the family since the first time you saw me! Why did you do that?"

„Well… I wanted that my grandson would have the right mindset. To tell you the truth, at that time I didn't have hope that you would become the new leader of our family. The other branch of our family had a little girl and she was… how should I say? A monstrous genius…"

Ezio frowned. Why didn't the old man told him this earlier?

„Since 800 years ago, we Blackflame's had two branches. Each branch would watch the other, and they were always rivals. Though we had this situation, our relationship was always good. We always act as one family. You have to think about it, our last connection by blood was 800 years ago. So after all this generations, you can't call us close relatives anymore. But after all these years, each new generation of each branch would always fight and rival each other, and they would call the descendant of the other branch a brother or sister. So maybe our connection with our blood isn't as strong as it was in the past, but we all see us as one family even until now"

„So, you… you won against the one from the other branch?"

„Yes. I was a little bit stronger than the old woman from the other branch. It was only a little bit… I was really lucky that I won at that time. To tell you the truth… Our branch was really miserable until I won against that old woman. For generations, the leader of our family came from the other branch… It wasn't often that our branch could win against these monsters"

Ezio took a deep breath. Why did the old man told him this so late? Ezio knew how troublesome his family was! And now there was a new branch who was after him!

„Then I'm not the heir of our family? I first have to beat up the one from the other branch?"

„No, you are the one and only heir. Even the old woman from the other branch accepted it"

„Why?"

„Because you ate the devil fruit of our ancestor. You are the one who will unite our two branches after all these years. It's time for our family to rise to new heights"

Ezio was confused.

„After all these years… I was the first one who ate this fruit? Wasn't there a schemer in our family who would just steal the fruit and take it for himself?"

„Well, it's truly a wonder. In our two branches, we had many different characters. Some were stupid, some were smart… but most of them were crazy"

Ezio scratched his head and thought about his mother.

„But one thing everyone of them had in common - they always would be loyal to our family! Maybe it's our special bloodline, but no matter how bad the character of one of them was, they would never betray our family. This was the reason why the two branches acted as one family even after all these years"

Ezio took a deep breath. He would rather fight two Emperors of Sea at the same time then go against another branch of the Blackflame's. And what the old man told him…His branch was clearly weaker than the other! The old man was the first after all these years to win a fight… That was trouble.

„To tell you the truth, I first wanted that your mother would compete with the other branch for the position of the leader. Your mother is someone special in our branch, her strength is at the peak and she was a genius since young. It's sad that this smart side only showed in her fighting ability, because her personality… Sigh. This mother of yours is many times stronger than your aunt. She really made me proud, but…"

„But the woman of the Blackflame family are all… crazy?"

The old man nodded.

„I was sure your mother would win. It would be the first time for our branch to take the leader position two times in a row in all these years! But we are unlucky, because… This old woman had a granddaughter, she is only a few years older than you. And that girl, I tell you… She is really strong. It's ridiculous. Everyone, even I, thought that she would definitely become the new leader. But then, she ate a devil fruit and didn't pass the secret trial. And you inherited the power of our family and became the new heir. This little girl didn't want to accept this reality, so she went out to the world to find you and take her position back…"

„Old fox, the women of the other branch, they aren't like the women of our line, right?"

„Oh", the old man sighed. „They are definitely crazy. The women of our family… It doesn't matter which branch they belong to… They are all… Oh, you have to be careful, little fox. This old man is worried about you. Even I can't help you in this, you have to win against this crazy granddaughter of the old woman!"

Ezio nearly cried. You can say that he had a trauma when it comes to the women of his family. The reason for that was his unreasonable mother. Now a woman that was as crazy as his own mother was chasing after him! How could he sleep at night?

„Ah, I should tell you. That little girl is on this island at the moment. I saw her in the restaurant!"

„Why are you telling me such an important thing so late? Damn it, this is trouble!"

Ezio wanted to have fun in this Battle Royal. Now that he knew that a crazy woman from an even stronger Blackflame branch was after his head… How could he have fun! The biggest disaster in this world was a female from the Blackflame Family! Even poor Dragon knew that!